Here’s some stuff that I’ve been pondering and that I’ve read lately.
I was reading an atheist’s criticism about Christianity and the alleged contradiction of God being a loving God. The one accuracy that he had was in saying that most Christians either have never learned about the wrath and judgment of God or they just plain refuse to acknowledge it. We are in agreement. Like Perry Noble said in the service the other week…we as Christians have to learn to live with how uncomfortable the Bible can make us. It is documented throughout the Old Testament just how wrathful God could be.
This is where his arguments fall apart. He remains in the Old Testament, to present proof of contradiction within our Bible, in his arguments to refute Christianity. He, and most, fail to acknowledge the blatantly obvious contradiction in their own argument. THERE WAS NO CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST!!!!!! CHRIST – IANTITY. No Christ, and you have Ianity. For you “gearheads,” this would be like someone refuting the very real benefits of fuel injection motors yet illustrating their argument with a carburated motor. Fuel injection does not exist in carburated motors (for you non-gearheads)!! Sure there was prophecy of the Messiah in the Old Testament, yes, but Christianity revolves around the teachings of Jesus Christ and the relationship that one develops with Him. This did not exist in the Old Testament. And, frankly, Jesus saved us from the Old Law that was outlined in the Old Testament. I believe that it is important, as Christians, to look and see exactly what kind of life here on earth that Jesus saved us from! And I’m getting off track…back to it.
Then atheists like to argue, “well if God is so perfect, why didn’t He send Christ in the beginning…and what about free will?” Yeah, He gave us that. And we (mankind) abused it right out of the gate. Sure, at that point God could have said let’s go ahead move on the prophecy and let Eve birth Christ. But would we have learned anything from that?
God let man have free will and allowed men to seek Him in their own accord. With that said, how many Godly people were there in the Old Testament? Few in comparison to the population. Very few sought God on their own (and this next part is important so DO NOT take what you just read out of context) to the extent that it pleased God and He bestowed His Grace upon them. Those few were highly favored and rewarded greatly, on earth as in Heaven! Few were favored because few truly sought Him!
After that, God said, well how about the Law? Give man laws and surely he can decide for himself to abide them. Right. That worked out well didn’t it? (I can smell the sarcasm)
You see, God had to make it known to man that man could not (save for the documented few like David, Moses, Noah, etc.) do for himself in order to attain God’s grace. I know that I have to learn for myself that I can’t do something before I believe it to be true. Such is the case with my life. Without Jesus, I couldn’t make it! God knew that. It’s documented in the Old Testament time and time again. And without the assistance of Jesus, most of us would have failed to reach God’s Grace. Paul made it clear in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 3:23-26 (New King James Version)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Astrotheology and Amen.
I had a friend introduce me to astrotheology some time ago. I did some reading on it, found it interesting and creative enough. But, then, as I do now, I stated that if you want to find something and you look for it in anything – you will find it there. Take the paranoia of The Number 23, or even in the movie, Pi. When you look hard enough into something with the desire to find something else in it…you’ll find a way to justify it. Many will use this argument against Christians to refute Christ. So be it.
Then, yesterday, a friend of mine is talking about this movie that her friend is passionate about. The Zeitgeist Movie, which I haven’t watched yet, but she told me enough that it was obvious these people were using astrotheology to refute Christianity.
The word, Amen. Christians use it in prayer, ending a prayer, or they shout it during a service when the pastor says something that strikes a chord in them. Most don’t know what it means. It was me using it this morning that led me to discuss this.
Astrotheology uses the sun to tell the story of Jesus Christ. Everything that Jesus did, they can find a way to liken it to the sun, its orbit, axis, etc. Again, congratulations, you are creative and you obviously have more free time than I. I could accomplish the same thing in telling the story of Jesus Christ through the drive train of a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS. However, I realize that this would be a vulgar waste of my time and yours.
Astrotheology will go as far as to use the word Amen against Christianity. They will tell you that you are calling upon the name of the Egyptian God Amen. This greatly works to their favor since most acknowledge Amen as the Sun God. However, the Bible I read was written in Hebrew, not Egyptian. And the word Amen is one of the only words in today’s translations of the Bible that remains in its original Hebrew form.
And, it is in that Hebrew form that the word Amen means: to be firm or solid in the sense of permanancy. Even here in the actual dictionary, the meaning remains the same, and origin is given to Hebrew:
a·men /ˈeɪˈmɛn, ˈɑˈmɛn/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[ey-men, ah-men]
–interjection
| 1. |
it is so; so be it (used after a prayer, creed, or other formal statement to express solemn ratification or agreement). |
–adverb
–noun
| 3. |
an utterance of the interjection “amen.” |
| 4. |
a musical setting for such an utterance. |
| 5. |
an expression of concurrence or assent: The committee gave its amen to the proposal. |
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME, OE < LL < Gk < Heb āmén certainty, certainly
]
I could go on and on and on. I was an atheist, I know many arguments against Christianity. Now, my intention here is only to say that us Christians should be more aware of the things we believe. I also believe it beneficial to be aware of the oppositions’ views. However, I’m not advocating debate with atheists or other religions. More often than not, this is extremely counterproductive…not to mention that arguing with someone is in no way a trait of discipleship and Jesus called us to be disciples for Christ, not politicians for Christ!
How can you feed a starving nation when you yourself don’t even know what you’re feeding them?
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